Shoichi was born in Yaizu, Japan. At the age of 32 he went to France to study wood block print techniques in Paris He won Young Contemporary Print Artist Award in Tokyo in 1972. During the early days of learning, still heavily influenced by his former life in Japan, his work was starkly linear using only monochromatic tones of black and greys. Quickly mastering the techniques he was learning Hasegawa soon went beyond what he had been taught, creating abstract imagery in work which still made use of traditional materials.

Throughout the last forty years his work has developed from the early symbolic work with his use of ancient Japanese painting materials through to abstract painting and printmaking. Within his work however he has kept one characteristic, translucence of color, from early watercolors and drawings at school in Japan through to his sophisticated etchings he has become the master of transparency.

He now lives near the Seine in Paris, where the Impressionists made their home, Hasegawa continues to work with his earliest choice of materials (ink and paper) creating engravings and etchings that combine modernism and tradition; an alliance that has gained him international acclaim. He has held worldwide exhibitions including Paris, Brussels, Strasbourg, Germany, Tokyo, Kobe and Nagoya. His works can be found in museums in France, the U.S., and many public collections.